[Lictimind]

Thanks Marval, I'm always glad to meet a like-minded person on this issue.

"The purpose of art is not the momentary ejection of adrenaline but the gradual and lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity."- Glenn Gould

This quote is great. I was always put off by some of my colleagues that used the term 'Eargasm' when talking about great music. There's such a thing as pleasure (in the strictest sense just chemicals), and then there's such a thing as "A sense of well being and understanding". I think a lot of people never get any of that second thing.

After Bentham and John Stuart Mill there's been an enormous group of people that knowingly or unknowingly have been strictly utilitarian,: that is [pleasure = good, pain = bad]. This is a much outdated philosophy. Philosophers of today that side with the hedonist call their philosophy 'Alternative Hedonism' i.e. they recognize that pleasure is multi-faceted, that is--there's chemical pleasure, and 'pleasure that' (pleasure that something has happened) and then 'A sense of well being'. Almost noone who actually thinks about these things for a living uses a purely hedonistic model. (See Thomas Hurka or Kate Soper for examples of 'Alternative Hedonist' philosophers)

So knowing that the mood in academia is shifting one would expect to see this shift at least in the university, but looking even there, you find they're still looking for a cheap substitute. Pleasure's great but it's not the only thing and certainly not the best thing.

Nietzche wrote alot about this, particularly in The Birth of Tradgedy, Nietzche lists art as one of the few things that is made of sturdy enough stuff to scratch up a purpose in what he believed to be a meaningless desolate chaos. While I don't see reality as so bleak, I do see the value of art as revealing truth, in such a way that we can understand it, and not be crushed under it's pressure.

I wonder how as a music teacher I can cultivate this love of art in music? It is difficult to make people experience the deeper benefits, I'm beginning to wonder if it is a "You can lead a horse to water..." situation.